IADSA briefs

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ThailandNew tax on food supplementsThe Thai authorities are currently considering introducing an excise tax of 50% on food supplements. This tax rate is normally only applied to luxury goods.

In an attempt to counteract this, the Thai dietary supplement association, HFSA, has been gathering information via the IADSA network on food supplement tax rates in other areas of the world.

Armed with this data, HFSA now intends to present a review of the global situation to their authorities, with the aim of demonstrating to them that such a tax would not only be unjust, but would also be out of line with practice in other areas of the world.

GermanyCinnamon supplements to be classed as medicines?In a recent joint announcement, the Federal Institute for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (BfArM) and the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) gave their opinion that products marketed with a diabetes health claim should be classified as medicinal products.

This ruling has affected those cinnamon dietary supplements marketed in Germany which claim to reduce blood sugar and help control type-2 diabetes, and recent court cases have now classified such products as medicinal. However, cinnamon-containing food supplements without health claims can continue to be marketed.

SpainEuropean Commission takes case on medicinal plants before the ECJThe European Commission has recently decided to take Spain before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for considering that is violating the EU principle of free movement of goods.

Medicinal plants lack of regulation in Spain since the government has not yet implemented the EU Directive on Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products. It is hoped that this action from the Commission will provide a solution boorsting the Spanish government to adopt regulation implementing the EU Directive.

Australia and New ZealandSterol-fortified foods approvedAustralian Health Minister Christopher Pine recently announced that two new food standards have become law. The first allows Australians and New Zealanders to have access to a range of foods enriched with plant sterols. Previously only permitted in margarines, plant sterols can now be added to low fat milk, yoghurt and breakfast cereals.

The second standard permits manufacturers to manufacture water-based beverages with added vitamins and minerals in Australia. (Such products have been available in Australia for some time, but until now had to be manufactured in New Zealand as dietary supplements and then imported.)

As Wall Street takes note of the impact of animal agriculture on our world, our waistlines and our wallets, the future of business lies in plants, writes David Benzaquen, a former natural products broker and founder of PlantBased Solutions....More